May Week 16-20

Monday, May 16

1950s

Civil Rights Movement
- Separate But Equal
  - refused access to University of Texas
  - eventually admitted
- Brown v. Board of Education
  - challenged "Separate But Equal"
- Rosa Parks
  - refused to give up bus seat
  - led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott
  - eventually led to segregation of public transportation being illegal
- Civil Rights Act of 1957
  - creates the Civil Rights Commission
  - authorized the Justice Department to investigate cases
  - Blacks denied the right to vote
- Cooper v. Aaron
  - prevented students from enrolling
  - could not pass legislation undermining the Court education

Tuesday, May 17

1960s

Main events
- Superbowl begins
- Marilyn Monroe and Kennedy Brothers
  - Monroe had secret relationships will John and Robert Kennedy
- JFK Assassination
- MLK Assassination
- Malcolm X assassination
- Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Selma to Montgomery March

Wednesday, May 18

Nixon won all but one state in 72
Carter won the 74 election

gay rights movement
Apollo 13 landed on earth
Clean air act- limit polluting
26 amendment 18 years old the right to vote

Iran Hostage crisis- they took 66 Americans

Watergate- business complex people wanted to break into the Watergate head quarters and get information about demarcate to get Nixon re elected, they were caught. Taping the phones. Once he found out about the break in and tried to cover it up, and he resigned.

Thursday, May 19

Vietnam

a lot of public negativity surrounding the war
Ho Chi Minh
- leader of Vietnam
- well-educated
- seemed like a peasant
- asked to be independent from France
Who fought?
- American Allies
  - US
  - South Vietnamese
  - never invaded North Vietnam to avoid WW3
- American Enemies
  - North Vietnamese
  - Vietcong
Why did we struggle?
- never invaded North Vietnam
- guerilla warfare - attack, retreat, so they can avoid retaliation from the stronger military

Friday, May 20

Vietnam

Escalation
- US involvement increased over a period of years
- started with the deployment of non-combat military advisers to the South Vietnamese army
- then started using special forces for commando-style operations
- use of regular troops for defensive purposes only
- use of regular combat troops
- Once US troops were in active combat, escalation shifted to adding more US troops
Gulf of Tonkin
- several US Ships were supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes in the Gulf of Tonkin
- Congress gives Johnson the power to declare war
- Johnson immediately sends tons of troops to Vietnam
Tet Offensive
- Westmoreland/Johnson tell American people that with more troops, they'll win
- most Americans believed this at first
- American faith ended when the enemy mounted the Tet Offensive and attacked nearly every major city in South Vietnam
- we crushed them militarily, but this offensive still convinced Americans that victory was impossible
- people started believing the government was lying to them and they protested
- protest increased when the Pentagon Papers were published
- this was info about the Vietnam war, including that the US government weren't telling the full story
Anti-War
- Tet Offensive
- Pentagon Papers
- Injuring/killing innocent people (My Lai Massacre)
  - US Soldiers kill 504 vietnamese civilians
  - women were raped and bodies mutilated
- supporting a bad government in South
- Power of the press
How did people get out of serving?
- Went to Canada or Sweden
- Went to college (student deferment)
- Got married
- medically unfit for service
- joined the National Guard or Peace Corps
- claimed to be homosexual
- being rich
End of War - Vietnamization
- Nixon called for this
- "Peace with Honor"
- Gradually pull US troops out and train the ARVN to take our place fighting in the North
- expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia leading to college protests

Blogs

May Week 16-20

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